Silicone-based automotive protectants commonly available in the marketplace. The term “automotive protectants” is defined herein as products which are applied to vinyl, leather, plastics, rubber, and other interior and exterior surfaces of automobiles, trucks, and other vehicles to improve the gloss of such surfaces. The protectants also can be formulated to protect such surfaces from the damaging effects of UV rays, sunlight, heat, moisture, etc. Although described as “automotive protectants”, the term “automotive” is not meant as a restriction on the use of silicone-based protectants, which protectants may be equally useful on boats, trains, planes, outdoor furniture, indoor furniture etc., and also for a variety of interior and exterior uses.
Automotive protectants are generally applied to a surface to be “protected” (e.g., tires, rubber car mats, car seat, dashboard, arm rest, etc.). The protectant may be poured or sprayed directly onto the surface to be treated, and/or may be initially sprayed onto a cloth, pad, sponge, etc. The protectants generally enhance the shine or gloss of the substrate surface. The organopolysiloxane coating on the substrate can also protect the substrate surface from heat damage and/or fading to sun exposure. The protectants can also include UV protectors.
The active ingredient of automotive protectants is the silicone. Silicone is also one of the more expensive components of the automotive protectant. The silicone content of some automotive protectants can be as high as 40-50 weight percent. The high content of silicone is typically used to obtain the desired amount of shine and gloss on a substrate surface.
Two patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,221,433 and 6,206,956, by Muntz et al., describe siloxane automotive protectant compositions which contain about 10% to 20% by weight of organopolysiloxane and having comparable or improved gloss performance to comparative examples with 20% to 40% by weight of organopolysiloxane. Although these protectant formulations are an improvement over the previous protectants, there is still an opportunity to lower the amount of siloxane in the formulation to levels of less than 10% to achieve a cost savings while maintaining good gloss performance.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved protectant compositions and methods of using said protectants which will provide good shine and gloss, and also provide protection to various types of automotive surfaces with lower amounts of silicone than which have been used in prior art protectant compositions.